The CSTO PA actively uses the experience of Russia’s EMERCOM in drafting model legislation

The Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters (EMERCOM) celebrated its 30th anniversary on December 27.
It all began in 1990 with the Rescue Corps being established on December 27. Later it was transformed into the State Committee for Emergency Situations, and in 1994, into the Ministry for Emergencies of the Russian Federation.
The person behind this new structure was Sergei Shoigu, a man well known in the CSTO.
Over the years, EMERCOM incorporated Civil Defence, Fire Service, State Inspectorate for Small Vessels and Mine Rescue Service and established its own air fleet and medical, psychological, diving, canine and pyrotechnical units.
More than 100,000 people were rescued in emergencies, fires and road accidents in Russia in 2020, TASS reported, citing the acting Head of the Ministry, Army General Yevgeny Zinichev. EMERCOM units responded to 324 emergencies, over 89,000 traffic accidents, 3,500 water accidents and extinguished more than 420,000 man-made fires.
Today EMERCOM is an effective, developed and advanced body that both responds to man-made and natural disasters and carries out theoretical studies of their prediction, prevention and mitigation.
Around this time, other states in the former Soviet Union began establishing similar structures.
Ever since the establishment of emergency-prevention and response structures, the issue of emergency-response cooperation has been a priority. Disaster prevention and response still require CSTO Member States’ special attention and joint efforts.
In its work, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly has paid particular attention to the codification of effective cooperation among the CSTO Member States on natural and man-made emergency prevention and response.
Experts from the CSTO Member States – Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – have been actively involved in this work.
Since 2010, the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly has been working with the St Petersburg University of State Fire Service of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia to develop emergency prevention and liquidation recommendations. Over ten years, the University’s researchers have developed five recommendations for the CSTO Member States governing emergency prevention and liquidation.
Between 2012 and 2014, the Recommendations on the Harmonization of the CSTO Member States’ Legislation Governing Security of Critical Facilities (adopted by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly resolution No. 7-5 on November 27, 2014) were developed.
They identified the main problems to be addressed: lack of unified legislative approaches, differences in the definition and classification of critical facilities, in competencies and responsibilities of authorized entities, in reporting and control, etc.
These Recommendations formulated conclusions and proposals to develop unified principles to ensure security of critical facilities and unified legal framework of emergency response at critical facilities.
The Recommendations on the Harmonization of the CSTO Member States’ Legislation Governing Cross-Border Cooperation in Case of Natural and Man-Made Emergencies (adopted by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly resolution No. 8-8 on November 26, 2015) contain a detailed analysis of relevant international agreements and numerous bilateral treaties of CSTO Member States, analysis of the main types of cross-border cooperation with a definition and theoretical substantiation of the principles of cross-border emergency-response cooperation.
The Recommendations on Harmonization of the CSTO Member States’ Legislation Governing Personnel Training and Retraining on Safety in Emergency Situations (adopted by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly resolution on November 24, 2016) are based on the analysis of international agreements, regulations, qualification requirements of the CSTO Member States regarding personnel training; educational establishments; list of fields, specialties and qualifications for firefighters and rescue workers; general emergency-response training and retraining system. These Recommendations offered the States common approaches to training of firefighters and rescuers.
The Recommendations on Harmonization of the CSTO Member States’ Legislation Governing the Activities of Emergency Services and Status of Rescuers (adopted by the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly resolution No. 11-3.4 on November 30, 2018) contain an analysis of the legal basis for the establishment and operation of the basic principles of emergency services and rescuers; procedure for the establishment and operation of emergency services; possible and/or mandatory participation of emergency services in emergency response; rescue workers and their status; responsibilities of emergency services and rescuers of the CSTO Member States. It proposed sixteen recommendations regarding the structure of the relevant national legislation of the CSTO Member States, concepts and definitions, principles and types of emergency services.
The document proposes types of rescuers, requirements for rescuers and provisions on the CIS Rescue Force Corps and CSTO CRRF that are shared by all CSTO Member States. These Recommendations contain information about potential development of CSTO Member States’ emergency rescue services and the use of new technologies and materials for emergency response, as well as insights into new rescuer specialties and their training programmes (use of artificial intelligence, robotics, UAVs, etc.).
According to the 2021–2025 CSTO PA Action Plan on Approximation and Harmonization of National Legislation of the CSTO Member States, the researchers of the Belarusian Ministry of Emergency Situations will develop recommendations for improving the legislation of the CSTO Member States in the area of civil protection.